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Read more about the article Periphron’s Tower and Excavation: Adventure in the Making

Periphron’s Tower and Excavation: Adventure in the Making

The wizard Periphron seeks a powerful artifact called “the Seventh.” His research, which includes use of a crystal ball and multiple castings of contact other plane, aided by a library of esoteric tomes, indicates the Seventh is located within the ruins of an ancient town, purportedly buried under a rocky hill in an arid plain.

After charming the blue dragon that laired within, Periphron rebuilt a ruined tower on the hillside. Beneath the tower, he excavated several tunnels in search of the ancient town. Exploratory tunnels broke into a series of natural caverns, which leads to the ancient town’s underground ruins.

Periphron uses the charmed blue dragon to guard the tower entrance. The excavation is accomplished by move earth spells and stone giants. Periphron’s apprentices handle the excavation’s day-to-day management.

Meanwhile, the wizard continues research. For, with the Seventh, Periphron intends to begin the prophesied Age of Dragons. How he will achieve this is unknown, even to the wizard himself.

But lawful factions want to prevent Periphron’s finding the artifact. Chaotic factions want to steal it. After so many uses of contact other plane, Periphron might be fairly nuts.

Imagining a cover for Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables, I hit upon the idea to draw a dungeon map with stocking notes, examples from the tables. One thing led to another…

Cover in the Making

To create the adventure locale, I string together a series of five-room dungeons. Among Neagley’s nine forms, a “Moose” makes the tower; a “Cross,” the exploratory tunnels; an “Evil Mule” for the cave network, and a “Paw” looks like the excavation site. For this purpose, I use the forms without necessarily incorporating Johnn Four’s five-room-dungeon story framework.

Wire-frame model of a dungeon consists of four sets of five circles connected by lines. Accompanied by notes and symbols. Notes reproduced in article text.
Periphron’s Tower and Excavation, Draft with Notes.
Symbol meanings are given in parenthetical notations within the text below.

On my draft, circles are rooms or encounter areas; lines are corridors, tunnels, and stairway connections between. I note the entrance (E) to each as well as its exit (X), which joins the next entrance. This makes a wire frame model. Later, while drawing the thing, other connections between rooms within and without each five-room section—much desired according to Jaquays’ Techniques—may become apparent.

See “Xandering the Dungeon” on the Alexandrian. In five parts and three addenda, Justin Alexander’s treatise exposes the techniques, philosophy, and multiple examples of the cartographic and dungeon design methods of Jennell Jaquays, whose early design credits include “F’Chelrak’s Tomb” (The Dungeoneer No. 1, 1976) and Judges Guild modules Caverns of Thracia (1979) and Dark Tower (1980). Alexander’s series is a must-read for fledgling cartographers and adventure-game designers. Jaquays’ work is a must-study.

Monsters and Treasures

As per guidelines in the 1977 supplements Monster and Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs, I chose monsters and treasures according to the scenario in mind. “Specials” are the focus of the dungeon, in this case, the wizard and the object of his search. “Selecteds” are those monsters and treasures that round out the story. For example, apprentices and other monsters the wizard uses as tools—because he’s evil—and wealth and magic items they employ to achieve their goals.

Monsters

To accompany the wizard, I figure he must have apprentices, a charmed monster, and some manual laborers. Periphron is throwing high-level spells in the background story, and the sought artifact has world-changing potential. There happens to be a 13th-level wizard on M&T’s Level 9 monster list. In the same list, I find a blue dragon for the charmed-monster guardian and stone giants to do the heavy lifting.

Special: Periphron (13th-level wizard).

Selected: Apprentices (MU 10-ish), stone giants, blue dragon (charmed monster).

I note that stone giants are neutral in alignment. So, their relationship to the evil wizard is not a simple cooperation, and I’ve already used the charm monster spell. As the scenario develops, we might find an opportunity to embellish the story and explain why the giants do the wizard’s work.

Treasures

The object of Periphron’s search, the Seventh is the primordial wyrm’s last unhatched egg from the Wyrm Dawn campaign. Its discovery and successful use (far from obvious) might create competition for the pretender in Wyrm Dawn’s successor Wyrmwyrd.

See the Legends section of “Myths and Legends” for more on the story.

Special: the Seventh (artifact).

Selected: Periphron’s spellbook, crystal ball, wand of metal detection, helm of read languages and magic, reference books.

In the selected treasure list, I have neglected wealth, which we might think would be necessary to accomplish Periphron’s plans. We’ll be generous with treasure-rolling opportunities in stocking—unless the wizard spent all his money and, so, is now desperate to find the artifact…

Placement and Distribution

I place the special monster (Msp) and treasure (Tsp): Periphron in the tower, the Seventh in the excavation site—yet undiscovered. For contents of other rooms, I roll on one of the tables from the Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables. The principle difference between the three tables is the chance for a monster encounter as noted below.

Dungeon SectionOld-School ’77 TableChance for Monsters
TowerBy the Bluebook33%
Exploratory tunnelsBasic and Lower Dungeons25%
CavesCaves and Caverns50%
Excavation siteBasic and Lower Dungeons25%

The results are noted on the wire-frame model: selected monsters and treasures (Mse, Tse), other monsters with treasures (MT), monsters without treasure (M—), unguarded treasures (uT), traps (an “X” with a half circle above—my rendition of a skull and crossbones), and interesting variations (star). I also note, with an asterisk (*), a few elements from which I might later derive adventure hooks.

In B/X, Moldvay separates OD&D’s “tricks and traps” into traps and “specials” for “anything not exactly a trap, but placed for special reasons” (B52). Meanwhile, in Holmes’s 1977 Basic D&D, the editor refers to these as “interesting variations.”

Now to draw the map and fill in details. I will of course share the finished adventure module.

In the meantime, with this draft document, you might develop your own version of “Periphron’s Tower and Excavation.” All the elements, the artifact for instance, are interchangeable. Should the cartography be an obstacle, you might browse Dyson Logos’s collection of five-room dungeons (tagged 5RD) or search the network for suitable maps to string together.

This 68-day #Dungeon23 veteran is confident that he can draw a 20-room map.

Justin Alexander changed the verb for using Jaquays’ techniques. See his “Historical Note.” Now we “Xander” the dungeon. I changed references and links accordingly. [13:43 27 November 2023 GMT]

I am an irregular tweeter, but follow me on Mastodon @stephenwendell@chirp.enworld.org for daily #Dungeon23 contributions.

Song of the World Dragon

Song of the World Dragon is a narrative poem. It is a creation myth of Earth’s far future—a world with magic, monsters, and a ring around it, with stars that aren’t fixed but dance and swirl.

DONJON LANDS is a far-future fantasy role-playing game setting.

I.

In the void between all things,
Surrounded by darkness and cold,
A faraway light shone dim.
The dragon lay dreaming in the void,
And naught else was in the void
But the dragon who lay dreaming and the light.
And in its dream the dragon dreamt
Of a world that was known as Earth.…

Continue reading: Song of the World Dragon

Player Character Record Sheet Index Cards

Tabletop Playing BX D&D

 
Real estate is valuable at one’s place on the table. A solo player needs, within easy reach, maps, notebook, rulebook, setting guide, and adventure notes, in addition to dice and a place to set a drink. Small room remains for a character sheet, less for a whole party of them.

Years ago, I started with full-page character sheets but soon reduced to half size, before I realized the utility of the 3" × 5" card.

Thorsdottir BX Player Character Record Card Front Thorsdottir BX Player Character Record Card Back
B/X Player Character Record Card, Front and Back.

Compared to the official B/X accessory (reproduced B14),1 the index card lacks saving throw and “to hit” vs. AC tables, notes, character sketch, and player’s name.

The D&D Reference Tables (from Dungeon Module B2, “perforated for easy removal”) replace the save and “to hit” tables. I keep notes in the adventure log, player’s name is omitted for solo games, and my drawing skill does nothing to improve the record’s aspect.

The index card is adaptable to other early D&D editions. For Endys the Uncanny, created when graph paper was not available to me, I use a character card in a Holmes D&D Basic game. Images below show the card of Palantir, an OD&D character.

Palantir OD&D Player Character Record Card Front Palantir OD&D Player Character Record Card Back
OD&D Player Character Record Card, Front and Back.

The OD&D card includes space for the character’s class, “Elf Fighting Man,” rank, “Veteran,” and Fighting Capability, “HF/AF.” The reverse has room to note a Beneficiary, in this case, a nephew Fingolfain.

The field for damage can also be used to note the manner of the character’s passing. Palantir was killed by a ghoul in room 9 of some deep, dark place. Should Fingolfain seek the inheritance, he may find his uncle’s gnawed bones in an open tomb. We note, however, Palantir, in his short career, gained not a gold piece.

Palantir in Play Prior to His Demise in an OD&D Campaign
Palantir in Play Prior to His Demise in an OD&D Campaign.

Notes

1 These sheets for B/X were produced from 1980 through 1984.

Cover Player Character Record Sheets 1980 Cover AC 5 Player Character Record Sheets 1984
D&D Player Character Record Sheets.
Covers by Jim Roslof (TSR, 1980) and Clyde Caldwell (TSR, 1984).

Turn Undead in Movement Phase

It was a table perhaps some decades ago. Remaining now are crumbling bits of dry rot wood next to a single stool in similar condition. One plate, flatware, a goblet, and two candlesticks, all of tarnished silver, lay amid the friable refuse.

Bending, Hreidmar scooped up the goblet. “Now there’s a treas—”

The north door opened and a troop of skeletons filed in. The first held a covered plater high in one hand, a threadbare towel laid over the bones of the other arm.

Thorsdottir stepped forward and thrust the Ouroboros1 toward the advancing column—“Back!”

The silver platter dropped to the floor with a clang. The cover rolled aside. Heel bones scraped stone as the skeletons turned away, fleeing through the door…

Lower Levels of the Lonely Tower
Lower Levels of the Lonely Tower.
The scene takes place in the central room (unnumbered), lowest level.

I’ve always counted Turn Undead as some kind of magic for the purpose of when, in the combat sequence (B24), a cleric should take the action. The B/X Rulebooks give no guidance on the matter (nor on a number of other details about Turning).

In my experience, Turning in the magic phase makes for some awkward moments:

  • Maneuvering and preparation for combat against half a dozen or so undead takes up time that will be for naught if the cleric’s Turning is successful.
  • Players, thinking about tactics in the movement phase, make a certain emotional investment in the combat, of which they are then deprived.
  • Missiles fired on the undead before they are Turned in the following phase is often anticlimactic.

During a recent Wyrmwyrd session, it occurred to me that Turning is only a quick gesture and maybe a couple spoken words. A cleric could easily do that while moving. If successful, the field is cleared—or at least thinned. If the Turning fails, the players can get into the combat with confidence their actions will be meaningful.

Rules Clarification: Turn Undead

A cleric attempts to Turn Undead in the movement phase of the combat sequence (step B, phase 2).

In the scene depicted above, neither side was surprised, and the player party won the initiative roll. Thorsdottir turned seven of nine skeletons.

Notes

1 The Ouroboros is the holy symbol of the Pantheon.

A Cleric Presents a Holy Symbol

 

Secret Room Under Landing

After helping to find a secret door below the entry landing, Hreidmar and company fell into the order of march behind Thorsdottir, Gandrefr, and Ardur.

Entry Level and Secret Room Under Landing
Entry Level and Secret Room Under Landing.

Secret Room

A deep step down leads into this small room. The ceiling, below the landing above, is only six feet high. A door on the left (north) is closed.

Opposite the step (southeast) is a wide alcove, the back wall of which is tiled with lavender-tinted crystal. On a ledge stands a statuette, blackened by age. The figure is male, head turned toward an outstretched arm. The arm, as well as the statuette’s base, is truncated in a rounded mass, as if previously melted.

When Thorsdottir reached for the statuette, a bright flash of light from the crystal tiles left her blinded. Ardur and Hreidmar were also effected.

The other dwarves entered the room, letting the secret door close behind them. The four guarded the two entry points in pairs, while the party waited for their comrades’ sight to be restored.

Gandrefr examined the statuette, which she took from Thorsdottir’s hands. Scratching the black surface, she said, “The statue is of bronze. It’s damaged but should be worth something.” She stowed it in Thorsdottir’s pack.

Not having playing cards on hand to determine the effect’s duration, which was 1 to 8 turns, I used a deck of Chainmail spells I made last summer, Wizard Light as the ace. The party waited 40 minutes for sight to return.

At the table, the time passed quickly. I drew a card at the beginning of each turn and checked for wandering monsters at the end of every other. There was one: wolves.

I didn’t see how wolves could open either the secret or the normal door, which “usually open automatically for monsters” (B21). So…

The party waited, cramped in the small space, heads bent beneath the low ceiling. Then a scratching sound, as claws on wood, broke the silence. The dwarf guards braced their shields. The blind shrank back into the alcove.

Again the scratching, then “Awooo…” The canine howl came, not from an adjacent space, but from above.

Gandrefr let out a breath. “It isn’t here,” she whispered. “It’s at the entrance, just above.”

More scratching at the door before silence invested the space again.

“I can see,” said Thorsdottir, peering at shadows on the ceiling. She judged the distance from the secret door to the alcove. “This alcove must be directly below the arched door.”

Gandrefr recalled the archway’s inscription: “Lost alone together found…”

Though the DM suspects that the damaged statuette and the archway inscription have some connection, he does not yet know what it is.

Hreidmar and Company of the Galti-Gler

Wandering Monsters
Wandering Monsters.
As a general rule in Wyrmwyrd, I use the Wandering Monsters tables (B53-54, X55-56) to generate random encounters.

Returning to the first floor, Ardur posted himself, spear in hand, on the entry landing with an ear to a door. Thorsdottir examined the central pillar and the stones underfoot, while Gandrefr searched the fresco wall. Both hoped to find a hidden entrance to the dungeon below mentioned in the parchment text. Neither found it before Ardur whispered a quick warning and readied the spear, facing the door.

When the doors burst open and a half dozen dwarves rushed through, Ardur held his ground. The dwarves formed a shield wall.*

One, peering over a shield, spoke: “If you be friend, say it true. If you be foe, prepare to cross the bridge!”1

Thorsdottir lowered her mace. “We are friends to civilized dwarfolk.”

“What do you here in Schlafender Drachenturm?”*

“We are on a quest.”

“And what is the object of your quest?”*

Thorsdottir hesitated. “Before I answer thrice, answer me once: What seek you here?”

“I like not to hint, for it cannot be shared.”†

Gandrefr stepped forward, empty palms raised. “Yet, it is clear,” she moved her hands while she spoke, “the sleeping dragon’s door has not been breached these many years. No coincidence would bring us together.” Her hands now traced a slow pattern in the air. “We might fight for a thing lost, or we might join our forces to find it. What say you?”

Behind the shield wall, there was much discussion and not a little grumbling. A moment later, the dwarf raised his head above the shield. “A kind offer it is you make, my friend, just and wise. Let it so be. I am Hreidmar. These are my kin of the Galti-Gler.”2

Monster Reactions in Role-Playing Encounters

When a monster’s action is not obvious, I rely on the Monster Reactions table (B24) to determine the flow of a role-playing encounter. In the encounter with Hreidmar and company, I knew the dwarves, like the player characters, were after the sword, but their attitude toward competition could go either way.

Rolling for reaction on entry and after Thorsdottir’s first two responses, I got three “Uncertain, monster confused” results in a row [marked with asterisks (*)]. With the dialog now established, I ignored any single result of 5 or less (attack possible or immediate), assuming “Uncertain,” while allowing two such results to indicate a bad turn in the discourse—an automatic “Hostile, possible attack.”

I did not roll for reaction to Thorsdottir’s inquiry about the dwarves’ goal [dagger (†)]. The polite question could not invoke a negative response but I didn’t imagine, either, that Hreidmar would give up the information to someone he didn’t trust.

At this point, Gandrefr interceded and threw a charm person spell on Hreidmar to banish doubt, barring a successful save, about his attitude. The dwarf leader might be in love.

Notes

*† The marked sentence or phrase is Hreidmar’s reaction to the player characters. See the section Monster Reactions in Role-Playing Encounters.

1 The dwarf refers to the bridge, which crosses a chasm to connect the mortal world to the underworld, whence one goes after death.

2 The Galti-Gler [galti (boar) + gler (glass)] is a diaspora clan. As the Throrgrmir Civilization fell into decline with the gold vein and gem mines played out and wyrmlings prowling the dungeon realm, the Galti-Gler returned to Forn Fjallaheim, their ancestral home. Hreidmar’s company is an adventuring party, following rumors of a magic sword lost in Schlafender Drachenturm.

Schlafender Drachenturm, the Lonely Tower

Spurned by her lover, the wizard Agodt built the tower that now crouches below the crest of a high crag in the remote foothills of the Western Mountains. Other than the occasional apprentice, she lived alone.

Agodt named her home Schlafender Drachenturm—or Sleeping Dragon Tower—after the motif with which she adorned the structure. But even in the wizard’s day, folks called it “the Lonely Tower,” for Agodt pined after her lost love. Since her disappearance some decades ago, the tower has been undisturbed. Only time takes its toll on crumbling stones.

Before the summertime distraction that was the Valormr Campaign, I played the first session of Wyrmwyrd. Wyrm Dawn, the Battle of Throrgardr, and Valormr were invaluable in fleshing out the dungeon’s history and culture as well as the geography of surrounding lands. Though short campaigns, the three together took up the better part of the game-playing year.

The autumn passed in house-moving, “there and back again” to the beach-front apartment, where I’ll be through April at least. A nomad’s is a precarious lifestyle. I intend to get in at least one more session of Wyrmwyrd before the end of B/X’s 40th-anniversary year. In any case, the campaign continues.

The Lonely Tower
Schlafender Drachenturm, the Lonely Tower

Player Characters

Thorsdottir serves as an acolyte of the Allfather Church in the Elding Wood village. Her friend Gandrefr is apprenticed to a sorcerer, who lives in a nearby hamlet.

Now, an adventurer has come to the Elding Wood village. Ansgar the Bold speaks of a powerful magic sword once possessed by the wizard of the Lonely Tower. Proof of the claim is a parchment he found among the belongings of Arkadin Hoarcloak, Agodt’s last apprentice, long-dead. Ansgar shows this parchment to anyone who expresses interest in joining his adventuring party. The calf skin is yellow with age, its edges burnt.

“I saw it only once,” reads the crooked scrawl, “before she was aware of my presence. The sword lay on the worktable before her. It was magnificent: a serpent coiled around the hilt, from bejeweled pommel to crossguard, and runes ran the length of the bronze blade. When Agodt noticed me, she covered the sword and bid me away.

“Later, in the dungeon below the tower, she built a secret vault. Among many wondrous treasures she stored there was a yew-wood case, narrow and long, bound in brass, a serpent engraved on the lid.

“Agodt closed the vault behind a solid stone-block wall. I dared to ask: How do you get in? She answered: The key is on the lintel. I searched the entire tower from upper works to dungeons below. I found no kind of key nor anything else on any lintel.

“It was soon after this that I was dismissed. Agodt gave no reason, and she never took another apprentice.”

Arkadin Hoarcloak
Eversden Hamlet, Odenwoad

From the village and surrounding communities, a score of hopeful adventurers gathered at the Elf King’s Inn. The company discussed plans for the expedition. Ansgar hired a local guide to escort the party to the Lonely Tower. They would depart at dawn on the morrow.

Short festivities followed. The ambiance was jovial. Afterward, Ansgar retired to his room. When he didn’t come down in the morning, two of the company banged on the door before entering. They found Ansgar in a blood-soaked bed, his throat slit. The parchment was not found.

With the company now divided between those who would venture to the Lonely Tower as planned, those who doubted the parchment’s veracity, and those who would find the killer, the inn erupted in boisterous debate. Amid the cacophony, Gandrefr approached a quiet fellow who stood apart from the crowd, while Thorsdottir sought the guide. After brief negotiations, the four departed.

The guide escorted the party to the Lonely Tower then waited outside as agreed. Thorsdottir, Gandrefr, and the retainer Ardur explored the tower’s three upper levels. They discovered, above the entry door and on each floor, something of interest.

Entrance

Engraved in the arch over the entry door is the following inscription:

LOST ALONE TOGETHER FOUND

First Floor

A fresco covers the west wall, between the two stair bases, from floor to 20-foot ceiling. It depicts two robed figures, man and woman, he in blue, she in lavender. He carries a short blade. She holds a ball of light overhead. They walk through a wood. Ahead of them, a circle of stones. On the stones are carved eight-legged serpentine creatures. Above the circle’s center floats an object wreathed in a radiant aura.

Second Floor

A statue of a human female and a dragon coiled around. The paint is chipped and worn, showing alabaster beneath. The woman’s face is triangular, the nose thin. She wears a lavender robe, trimmed with white flowers. The dragon’s tail circles her waist, leaving arms free, and turns up at her knees. It’s head rests on a shoulder, peering up at her.

Third Floor

An iron statue, covered in a layer of rust, of a dragon standing, wings displayed, tail wrapped around the base. One eye is closed. The other is open, but the socket is empty. A claw held to its chest is clenched tight in a fist.

Valormr Concludes on Three Tables

A year ago, due to the current world situation, I had the opportunity to rent a small apartment on the beach at a monthly rate that fit a nomad’s budget. It’s equipped with all the necessities in two rooms with a view on the sea, a constant breeze, and three tables of various sizes. With an eye on the tables and knowing that human contact should be limited for the coming months, I rekindled the decade-old idea to play a solo wargames campaign.

Valormr, like Wyrm Dawn from which it spawned, informs the upcoming B/X campaign.

The strategic movement map is laid out on the first table. When opposing forces meet, battles are fought on the second. The third table is reserved for the Throrgrmir Citadel, where take place the opening and closing engagements: the dragon’s assault on the Citadel and its storming by the Forces of Law.

No table for dinning remains to me, but who needs to eat when you can play wargames?

Forces of Law Execute a Plan
Forces of Law Execute a Plan.

Moving overland, the Aeskrvald and Lanze armies are escorted by elves through the Ellriendi Forest to take up positions northeast of the Citadel, while Noerdenheim and Grallune move by sea to capture Port-of-Sands then the Keep on the Pale Moor, thereby cutting the Chaos Armies’ supply lines.

Battle of Throrgrmir
Battle of Throrgrmir.

The Chaos Armies routed from the field, Anax Archontas hops from his perch atop the Throrgrmir Citadel to deliver a tongue of fire into a formation of Grallune troops.

Meanwhile, an adventuring party gains the base of the Citadel, where they enter a secret tunnel. The adventurers must find their way through a dungeon, overcoming any obstacles, to enter the Citadel’s upperworks.

Ostanner ninjas move through woods to the base of the Citadel’s plateau. They are to scale the cliff and the ramparts to create a diversion as the adventuring party enters the Citadel to open the gates.

Zosimos Wields the Wyrmwyrd
Zosimos Wields the Wyrmwyrd.

A moment later, a strange wizard from south of the World Dragon Mountains confronts the dragon. With a device fashioned by the Throrgrmir dwarves, Zosimos banishes the would-be usurper from the Throrgrmir Valley. Anax Archontas’s bid to become the first emperor of the Age of Dragons ends with a few spoken words bolstered by the power of the Fates. The device ever after is called the Wyrmwyrd.

Hadewych Pretends to an Empire
Hadewych Pretends to an Empire.

The dragon is gone and with it the Chaos Armies’ raison d’être. But the dwarves below are starving, and the Forces of Law are diminished and weakened, while armies of kobolds, orcs, and gnolls arrive from the south, and the Wraithwright marches at the head of an undead legion from the north. Hadewych the Arbiter, with two regiments, a host of heroes, and the Citadel’s upperworks under her control, finds herself atop an empire ready for the taking.

Storming of the Citadel
Storming of the Citadel.

But the Forces of Law set up a catapult on the hill due south. It pelts the ramparts before Grallune forces march up the slope. As fighting erupts on the Stonesward, the adventuring party fights its way from the Greensward toward the gate, and, bursting through the door from below, dwarves cry vengeance and death to Throrgrmir’s enemies.

This is the Throrgrmir Empire, rich with gold and gems and treasures beyond imagining. If she wants it, Hadewych must fight for it.

Storming of the Citadel (Overhead)
Storming of the Citadel (Overhead).

 

The year on the beach draws to a close, as does the wargames campaign. I’ve kept a detailed record of events of Valormr, which, like Wyrm Dawn from which it spawned, informs the upcoming B/X campaign.

Myths and Legends

Myths

In the dream of the dragon, Earth
Was ruled by the Greater Ones,
Who created magic and with it
Made themselves from Men, the First Race.
From the flesh-blood of Men did make
The Greater Ones they themselves.
For nothing on Earth was beyond
Their power with the magic they created.

—excerpt from Song of the World Dragon

Song of the World Dragon is an ancient text, one of the earliest non-magical written works, which recounts the myths of the world’s origin. Here I summarize three.

Greater Ones

A superintelligent species of beings once lived in a world known as Earth. Called the Greater Ones, its members wielded power as gods. They created magic, and they built the donjons, whose spires, now in ruins, still punctuate the horizon. They also created the demihuman species and monsters. The Greater Ones did not survive the Rending.

The Rending

The Earth of the Greater Ones ended in a cataclysmic apocalypse—an explosion so powerful as to tear the world to pieces and rip a hole in space and time. The perpetrator was the Illmind, a sinister collective of hyperintelligent, extra-dimensional beings.

World Dragon

Through the rent was thrown one part of Earth. The Ershard fell into a void, where there was only a far away light and a cosmic dragon. The dragon knew that the few surviving creatures would not long live in the void so far from any energy source. So, the dragon took the Ershard on its back and carried it toward the light. Now, the Ershard, still on the dragon’s back, orbits the light.

Legends

These legends, known in the north, are told about the Throrgrmir dungeon. The authoritative source for these legends, among many others, is Viggo Eskilsson’s Histories of Throrgrmir From Great Wyrm to Age of Dragons.

Ormr and Wyrmlings

When the Throrgrmir dwarves dug too deep, they awoke a primordial wyrm. She crept from the depths into their underground city and fed on its populace. The dwarves fought the wyrm back to her lair.

But, now nourished, the primordial wyrm descended to the Underside of the Ershard, where she mated with the World Dragon. In her lair below the dwarven city, she laid seven eggs. Six hatched.

Named Ormr by the dwarves, the primordial mother is also know as the Great Wyrm. Her spawn, as wyrmlings.

Six wyrmlings scurried into the dwarven domain. They devoured any dwarves who stood in their way, but what they sought was treasure. They stole the dwarves’ gold, gems, and fine-made works and took them back to the wyrm’s lair.

Since Stardark’s End, naught is known about the Great Wyrm. Perhaps she died in her lair, deep below the surface. But some say she left the dungeon, flying on wings to the cold northern ends of the Ershard. Others say she descended again to the Underside to mate once more with the World Dragon.

The wyrmling clutch was decimated during the Stardark Empire. The last wyrmling, after delivering its touch, was killed by Faerunduine’s claws.

Wyrm-Touched Dragons

During the reign of Dagrun Stardark, the wyrmlings continued their scavenging for treasure. They stole from any creature possessing wealth: ogres, giants, demons, as well as dragons. But a wyrmling’s touch effected dragons. It made them stronger, more intelligent, more ferocious.

Three dragons were so touched:

  • Ixmundyr: Red dragon. Made his lair in a magma chamber. Slain.
  • Gullhringr: Gold dragon. Lair unknown. Disappeared with all the dungeon’s inhabitants at Stardark’s End.
  • Faerunduine: Green dragon. Lairs in the Deepmost Caverns. Recently gained a cult following. A temple at the Throrgardr Gate is dedicated to her.

The Seventh

No one knows whatever happened to the Great Wyrm’s unhatched egg. In antique texts—most by Stardark’s mages and by the fiend Murtax, it is called “the Seventh.”

Wyrmwyrd

The Throrgrmir dwarves made a device called the Wyrmwryd to control dragons. During her reign, Dagrun Stardark used the Wyrmwyrd to subdue the Great Wyrm.

Wyrm-Touched Dragons Ixmundyr Gullhringr and Faerunduine
Wyrm-Touched Dragons: Ixmundyr (deceased), Gullhringr (unknown), and Faerunduine (extant).

Beliefs and Religion

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

—Mark Twain1

Beliefs

These are fundamental beliefs widely held among all peoples throughout the known world.

Eternal Recurrence

The world ends; the world begins anew. Time is cyclical. The most recent end of the world was the Rending. Before that, there was Ragnarok, a battle between the giants and the gods. Before that, the Great Deluge, the Ever Winter, and the Time of Fire. The present world will be destroyed following a battle between Law and Chaos. Chaos wins.

Fates and Destiny

In the north, they are the Norns. In the south, the Moirai personify destiny. To the east, one’s destiny is determined by the stars. In all cases, the common term is “the Fates.” The gods obey the Fates. It is part of divine responsibility. Mortal creatures may choose to obey or to resist them. Diverse myths portray a hero’s struggle against the Fates and his or her success or failure.

Religion

Most folk, particularly those north of the World Dragon Mountains,2 are adherents to the Pantheon of gods. Followers revere all the gods, the Allfather chief among them.

The holy symbol is the Ouroboros, a serpent biting its tail. The symbol is presented with the “bite” at the circle’s top. The inverse presentation, considered heresy, signifies rebellion against the Pantheon.3

Rituals, ceremonies, and festivals follow the Ring Cycle, which comprises eight annual cycles of birth, death, and rebirth, and an overall cycle of worldly renewal. The faithful make rituals daily as well as monthly and seasonally.

As such, churches and cathedrals are dedicated to the Pantheon as a whole, yielding a central place to the Allfather. At the same time, temples, dedicated to a particular god, are not rare, while shrines may be either to a single god or to the Pantheon. In no case is devotion to the Allfather ignored.4

A religious edifice of a community is staffed by clerics, who attend to the religious, if not spiritual, needs of the faithful. These clerics may be of the adventuring class or minister clerics. Minister clerics may rise, though slowly, within the church hierarchy to hold upper offices.

Community Size Edifice Office
Village Church (rarely temple) Priest
Small Town Church Curate
Large Town (or City) Church Bishop
Major City Church or Cathedral Matriarch/Patriarch

Each office is appointed by the next higher, usually influenced by its own superiors. For examples, the bishop of Valormr is appointed by the patriarch in the Grand Duchy’s capital city.5 The bishop appoints the curate of Odenwoad as well as that of Fyrir, and each curate appoints priests to surrounding villages.

Development Guidelines

In developing the DONJON LANDS setting, I strive to create only what is necessary for game play. Though I indulge to some degree when an opportunity to explore the world presents itself. In so doing, I follow two guidelines. Here I describe how they relate to the setting’s religions.

Ancient Models

To save myself a tremendous amount of work, I use as models ancient religions of our own world. The religion followed north of the World Dragon Mountains draws from Germanic and Norse mythology. While, south of the range, the inspiration is from Greek mythology, and east of the (unnamed) central sea, Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian. Models not copies.

B/X Implied Setting

A goal of the Wyrmwyrd campaign is to develop a setting that corresponds to the rules as written. In B/X, clerics “have dedicated themselves to the service of a god or goddess” (B9). No gods are described. A DM, who so desires, might elaborate on the Pantheon to define a much more detailed and complex religion, while another might use only “the Allfather”6 as a generic god.

Notes

1 The quote is often attributed to Twain. The Quote Investigator debunks the myth.

2 The World Dragon Mountains are far south of the Throrgrmir Valley.

3 A sect or cult of Chaos might use the Ouroboros inverted among its membership—never openly in civilized communities. We may encounter the symbol more frequently in the dungeons.

4 One might imagine the predominant religion as pantheistic merging toward monotheism, as the Church of the Allfather consolidates its power.

5 As folk in Valormr prize their independence, there is some tension between the Lords of Valormr and the Church of the Allfather. The best they can arrange is for the Valormr bishop to be a local native, who then, so hope the Lords, keeps local interests in mind. That is not the situation at present.

6 Of course, one might want to replace the Allfather with the Allmother. I suspect a matriarchal religion—that is, one whose primary god is female—would look much different though, not just a change in gender. Further, it would be interesting to follow the evolution of a religion whose chief god is non-gender or non-binary or simultaneously male and female. I intend to experiment with these in future campaigns. Meanwhile, I would love to see your examples.